Madge Lindsay – TSP Birdwalk Expert

Madge Lindsay, former Executive Director for Audubon Mississippi retired to Fort Davis, TX in 2009 where she set up a consulting business in nature tourism and conservation. She is an honors graduate with a Bachelor of Sciences degree from Texas A&M University.

Madge was born and raised in Alabama and before joining Audubon Mississippi she had an eleven-year career with Texas Parks and Wildlife as a Conservation Biologist. Under her leadership at Texas Parks and Wildlife, Madge initiated the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, the first regional highway trail for bird watchers in America. She also launched the Texas Birding Classic, the Texas Hummingbird Round Up and other public outreach programs that are still in existence today. The coastal birding trail won the British Airways Tourism Tomorrow Award and is the model for many new birding trails across the U.S.

While serving at Audubon Mississippi as State Director (2002 until 2009) in Holly Springs, MS, Madge supervised a $1.5 million budget and developed working boards for local center(s) and the state Audubon entity. She was responsible for administering an endowment of several million dollars as well as securing operational resources for emerging state programs. She managed a staff of twelve and launched a conservation plan that included a birding trail on the Mississippi Coast and along the Mississippi River featuring the states Important Bird Areas. She also helped launch a new Bird Conservation Office in Vicksburg and a new Audubon Center on the Pascagoula River.

At Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, MS Madge supervised the launch of the Coldwater River Watershed initiative and growing the Center’s popular Hummingbird Migration Celebration to 8,000 festival-goers.

Her history includes organizing and participating in numerous nature tourism events, conferences and papers, as well as co-authoring a book, Hummingbirds of Texas and the Southwest. Madge is recognized for her work among her peers as well as respective conservation organizations. Among other awards she was named one of seven “Heroes for Birds” by Birders World magazine in 2002.